A Baby In The Clinic
by girl.of.horror
Summary: Ichigo, rukia and a baby


First real attempt at making a **wholesome **ichiruki fic. If you have read my 'it was too much' story…then you know what I mean by wholesome -cheesy smile-

**Disclaimer:** Tite Kubo owns the entire bleach universe. I'm just using his characters for my own enjoyment and, hopefully, your enjoyment too.

**A Baby In The Clinic**

Kurosaki Isshin raised a fist high up in the air to emphasize what he was saying.

"When a child is born", his loud voice boomed, "a parent carries within him his hopes!"

Ichigo merely covered his ears, exasperated that Rukia was listening with rapt attention.

"But when they grow up, those hopes grow less and less…!", he turned to Ichigo, a finger pointed at him, "Those hopes grow withered, that all I can do is to tell you my dear Rukia, who I already am treating as a third daughter, to marr-----thgh wohjylejkh phiem oghu shjktiy."(-to marry this worthless piece of shit.)

"Shut up old man or I'm going to strangle you." Ichigo said ominously as Isshin continued to let out garbled words through the pair of hands that covered half of his face.

"Stop it Ichi-nii, Dad, you're going to wake up the baby."

Isshin who, managed to wrench his face out of Ichigo's hands, shouted,

"He started it!"

Yuzu opened her mouth to reprimand her father but Ichigo cut her off.

"Why are you bringing that medical kit? And you're wearing that nurse uniform too…"

"Oh? Dad and I are going to a patient near old Hana's. His family had asked us yesterday to check on his health and since he had fractured his leg and his sons are all away, dad volunteered to just do a house check-up."

"Oh. Were we, Yuzu?"

"Dad! You shouldn't forget about things like that!"

"Spoken like a true Kurosaki, Yuzu----"

"Dad, shut up!" This from Yuzu.

Isshin's eyes sprouted waterfalls. "Oh, Masaki, the kindest daughter of ours had been influenced by her brother!!!!!"

Ichigo's fist hit the top of Isshin's head.

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Minutes later, after Isshin and Yuzu had gone…

"Where's Karin?" Rukia asked Ichigo.

"She's probably out playing soccer or something." He continued to fold and place extra towels in a closet that had a sign on it that said, 'towels, cotton, first aid kit'.

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence between them. Ichigo stretching his arms after his little chore turned to see Rukia leaning on the crib where a baby was sleeping.

"Ah…Rukia? What…is it?"

"Nothing." She straightened and looked at him straight in the eye. "Ichigo?"

Something definitely smells fishy here. Maybe it was the look that gave him the feeling…

"Yup."

She crossed her arms across her chest.

"I want to carry him."

The declaration hit him full force.

"Wha---you don't, you can't.", he stammered. Why was Rukia suddenly wanting to carry that baby?

He saw that her face was starting to become red.

"What's wrong with that? I just want to carry him, that's all! Humph!"

"Eh?"

She was starting to become defensive.

"Merely being curious, that's all. It's natural, you blockhead."

"The what?"

He knew that if he goaded her enough, she would continue to defend herself without her own knowledge.

"The curiosity. The baby's just so cute, see? His cheeks are so pink and he's so…he's so chubby!"

"Uh-huh."

"So…"

Ichigo sat on a stool from across Rukia. The crib was between them, and he was surprised that the baby hasn't yet woken up from all the noise that surrounded him from moments ago.

He didn't answer. Let Rukia feel like that for a while.

"So, can I…can I carry him?"

Rukia was looking at him in such a way that he found it hard to say no. He felt compelled to say yes.he didn't like that word so much...compelled.

"You haven't experienced carrying a baby yet?" he found himself asking, and mentally slapped himself. He so easily gives in. Why couldn't he have placed his foot down for a minute longer…?

Although her cheeks were quite red, she had become haughty again. As if she was trying to hide her excitement yet feeling embarrassed at the same time.

"Well, it's not as if nii-sama allowed me to go out on walks and roam around greeting our neighbors and their children on my days off. Well, will you?"

His hand scratched a part of his head. There was no getting out of this.

He stood up, went to the crib and bent down to get the baby. His hands paused and looked at Rukia, who by this time had gone closer too and was leaning a bit too much. Ignoring the fact that their faces were a mite closer than he would have liked, he started to explain things to her.

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"…remember that okay? We don't want the baby hurt."

She nodded her head enthusiastically. Maybe it was a bit too much. What was wrong with him that he conceded to her silly request? But she looked so excited…

He looked down at the baby and shook his head, reaching out to the baby to scoop him into his arms, careful not to wake him up.

"Ichigo, where did you learn to carry a baby like that?"

"I was almost five when the twins were born and I used to carry them a lot."

Rukia's eyes had grown wide at this point and she had a childlike look of wonder in her face.

"Really? That's like more or less 10 years ago. You still remember how to?"

"Somewhat. Moreover, this is a clinic; mothers sometimes bring their babies here for check-ups and stuff so when Yuzu and Karin are out, I had to be the one to care for them."

She was nodding her head enthusiastically by now.

"Yeah…and you had to be extra careful because of the impression your hair color gives you."

He blinked. How did she know that?

He was slowly rocking the baby he held in his arms when he suddenly remembered why he was holding him.

"Hey, Rukia. I thought you wanted to carry him."

She smiled sheepishly.

Damn, she is irritating, isn't she?

"Che. So do you, or don't you want to?"

"Well, of course I do! It's just that he looks so small now…"

He grimaced mentally. She was afraid now when moments ago she was excited. Women and their ways.

"You just have to try it. You wanted to, don't you?"

arrgh..So now, he had gotten as low as to encourage her, hadn't he?

I am so disappointed in you Kurosaki Ichigo.

Che. What do you care?

Damn it, now he was having conversations with his own self , wasn't he?

"All right, but I..."

"Just carry him!"

"But—"

The baby who probably thought enough was enough, scrunched up his face and let out a moaning sound. It seemed like he was about to cry.

Rukia gave him a questioning look.

"Keep your voice a notch down. I told you that, didn't I? "

Her eyebrow lifted and she looked at him in such a way that sent him the message, _it was you who couldn't keep his voice down. Tell that to yourself._

He sighed.

"Rukia", he was speaking to her in a much softer tone, "just hold the baby."

He saw her lips pout a little bit, but nevertheless she stretched out her arms.

"Rukia, that's the wrong way." He reminded her.

"Well…"

She bit her lip ang fidgeted with her fingers.

"If you don't want to carry him, then its okay, no one's forcing you." He shrugged, which was rather difficult to do considering he had to do it slowly as not to wake the child.

"I want to carry him!"

"Really?"

"Yes, it's just that he looks so fragile."

"Right. And moments ago you had cooed over how cute he looked."

She smiled slyly. "He does look cute. I'm sure you did too when you were also a baby."

She totally knew how to turn the tables on him.

He couldn't stop the blush from showing in his face.

"I'm sure you looked like cow shit."

"I've seen your baby pictures. Your father proudly showed them to me the other day. Not to say I was willing, but it was rather fun."

_Damn it. That was not a compliment. That was an insult. Don't lose your cool just because you were flattered. (Yeah, I admit, I was. So what?)_

She was not a bit annoyed but instead was grinning widely. She knows. She knows she had somehow managed to flatter him. That elf. That midget. That bunny-lover.

"Is he heavy?"

Completely out of the blue. That question was. But damn, is she going to carry the baby or not?

"No. Just fine at all."

"Alright."

"You're going to carry him already?", he exclaimed.

"I am not about to say things twice, moron."

It was his turn to grin. And so was she.

Maybe he doesn't need to worry about such things when it comes to her; after all, she had always kept her word.

But still, she said it herself...what if she drops the baby?

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Ichigo...the worrier

Thanks for reading…..

Not fluffy and not my best….(O.o)….but please….review…review…review…

please review Y(o-O)Y


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